This article on Breitbart.com–which calls itself an “organized grocery store of news”–forecasts that my hopes may be answered. Rain, thunder, typhoons forecast for Beijing Games mentions rain during the opening ceremonies, and predicts isolated typhoons that may disrupt events in other cities. The article does not mention the positive effects on the air of this possible rain. Although I’m sure if I looked further, I may find some mention of it.

Breitbart is also carrying an article IOC says no censorship deal as Games fever hots up that brings up the possibility that the Games in Beijing could liberalize China’s media restrictions. This is what we are interested in–the possibility that interconnections will lead to increased understanding and environmental policy changes. I read some of the comments to this article, and it looks like we will have a lot of anti-communism fervor to contend with.